Ministry for Primary Industries' new puppy recruits

Two bouncy, wriggly beagle puppies will be spending their first Easter as trainee biosecurity detector dogs.

Brother and sister Charleston and Roxy are only 10 weeks old but are already two weeks into their Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) training programme.

MPI detection technology manager Brett Hickman said if all went well, they would start sniffing out food and plant materials at New Zealand's airports and ports after 12-14 months of training.

"They've been bouncing around our kennels brimming with enthusiasm, so we are very hopeful they will make the grade," he said.

Charleston was due to move in with an Auckland family this weekend.

He will undergo the puppy walking phase of his training, which involves socialising new dogs so they get used to working around people.

Roxy will go to her foster home a week later.

MPI sourced the puppies from a breeder based in Hastings.

"We have our own beagle breeding programme. But it's great to bring in new dogs to increase our genetic diversity," Mr Hickman said.

There are already 40 biosecurity detector dog teams operating at the border. They were great at picking up seeds and plants that could be hard to detect using MPI's border x-ray machines, Mr Hickman said.